Col Edward "Eddie" Rickenbacker

Eddie Rickenbacker was a WWI world-famous pilot and war hero. He also drove a race car and was very skilled. During WWII, “Eddie was off in a B-17 bomber plane” and had planned to go to Hawaii with his crew: Hans Adamson, Bill Cherry, Jim Whittaker, John Deangelis, James Reynolds, Alex Kaczmarczyk, and Johnny Bartek. While flying, the B-17 went down and crashed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They immediately got in the rafts and rowed away. On the way, they found out no one had grabbed the food. After weeks without food (except for 4 oranges) they made a fishing pole and after two times, they caught a big fish and gladly ate. They were planning to go to Fiji.
A few days later Alex died mumbling in his sleep after drinking too much sea water. A few days later, they caught sound of a plane. “then out of the blue sky came an American rescue plane looking for them.” After two days they were sighted but it was not known how to get them out of the water. But then the plane came down and took one of the crew into the plane. The next day they made it to an island and were welcomed by people on America’s side. They were soon taken to a hospital in Hawaii.
We honor you, Edward Rickenbacker.

(Submission written by: Adin Parry, 9 years old. Source: Lost in the Pacific, 1942 by Tod Olson)